what's the Prince and Joni Mitchell connection?

I know that *Joni* is written in the newspaper headlines on the back of Controversy and that she appeared in the tributes to Prince in the video at the UK Hall of Fame.


is it just a mutual respect of each other or have they worked together?

i think he was always a big fan
[Edited 8/19/07 12:23pm]

Yeah just a big fan of hers.

There's not a huge connection, but she was an influence on Prince. Joni mentioned in a Rolling Stone interview that she remembers Prince coming to her concerts when he was young; she thought his eyes looked Egyptian and she remembered seeing them when he got famous. Her style of playing piano and keyboards and chord structure influenced him, as well as apparently Lisa Coleman. He recorded a version of A Case of You on One Nite Alone. I think that's about it. They haven't worked together as far as I know.

Joni gets a mention in princes masterpiece "The ballad of Dorothy Parker".

There was an attempted collaboration between the two in either the late '80s or early '90s. Prince had written a song for Joni called "Emotional Pump", which Joni decided not to use because it didn't suit her.

I think it's cool that she attended a few of the 3121 parties.

JimEden said:

in an interview around 1985 Prince mentions that he adores the Hissing of Summer Lawns (an album of Joni Mitchell)....ofcourse he played Joni Mitchells A case of You also around 1983...

...and in "Circle Of Amour", he mentions "The Circle Game" which is another Joni track (from Ladies Of The Canyon).

Prince recently contributed a cover song of Joni's for a tribute cd.

BlackAdder7 said:

The original version can't be topped!

101 said:

It must have been more recent than 1983, surely? I'm a huge Joni fan and it's so great that Prince clearly adores her. She is the consummate songwriter. The cover of A Case of You on the tribute CD is the same version from One Nite Alone.